


Luxuries

by Vee



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Prostitution, Anal Sex, Barebacking, Bottom Erwin Smith, Cock Worship, Gangbang, Humiliation, Knifeplay, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Name-Calling, Oral Sex, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-21 17:06:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1557788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vee/pseuds/Vee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I'm going to tell you a secret I've never told anyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Luxuries

**Author's Note:**

> Bottom!Erwin, Prostitute!Levi canonverse A/U for B.E. Week. This starts out with some plot/purpose because I wanted to set a mood, but trust me, when we get to the porn it gets to that not-even-trying-for-class level of porn. There is a brief interruption of mood to address the fact that I’m approaching this also from a “3DMG is actually incredibly fucking inconvenient” aspect. I know doujinshi especially tends to just find a way around this, but I’m going with the cosplay nightmare version of 3DMG for reasons which will be self-evident. 
> 
> When this got long enough I realized I was forming more involved headcanons and secrets, with potential for continuation. Therefore, there's an opening for sequel. Because I can't help myself. 
> 
> Flagrantly unsafe sex for the purposes of smut. Practice safe sex, guys.

Every autumn there was a new sort of rare liquor available from the swindling peddlers in Mitras, and every autumn is was up to each officer to determine whether that was a suitable birthday gift for the Commander. There wasn’t time enough to put into something thoughtful, and the Commander was a difficult man to buy for in the first place. Any attempt at a gift with meaning ran the risk of seeming like a kiss to the ass or, even worse, too familiar. Liquor and food, therefore, were seen as the only suitable gifts, going by the same implicit rules that dictated the appropriate highest bet at a card game among equals.

“We could buy him a whore,” the idea first came from Captain Zielen during such a card game, at which he was betting uncomfortably high.

“ _You_ could buy him a whore,” Becker shot back, unwilling to discuss spending any money where she’d been forced to fold.

“I’m only suggesting that he could do with some stress relief. It seems like a gift we’ve been too traditional to consider.”

Becker looked to Nanaba to aid in her discouragement, but Nanaba knew too well that supposed idle conversation was often used to draw out a bluff. Becker sighed and threw a hand up. “Really, though? For him? Don’t you think that’s a little demeaning for a guy who’s got women fawning all over him every time he’s in public?”

“It wouldn’t be demeaning if it’s the best woman inside the walls. The best money can buy, at least. Top shelf pussy. What do you say? Because I’m out of ideas otherwise.”

Nanaba won the hand and Zielen gritted his teeth. At the pause, Mike finally took the opportunity to clear his throat, adding to the conversation with a tone as casually knowing as he could muster. “I think… you’re all grossly misinformed about the Commander.”

They did not press for details, taking him awkwardly at his word, and thank goodness for that. Mike wasn’t prepared to elaborate further, and it wasn’t worth it to dredge up incriminating memories. (Except there was that time. Erwin was drunk. He pushed Mike against the wall because Mike let him, and with cheeks flushed he slurred that he wanted him, as in _Mike, I need you, I’ve been crazy for you, please fuck me, please do it…_ Only the Commander was grossly misinformed about Mike. The Captain took him to his room and put him to bed, slept in the chair next to him and was there to field Erwin’s grousing apologies for his behavior the next day. He offered to forget it had ever happened, if it would make Erwin happy, and technically he still hadn’t let the cat out of the bag).

Zielen gave only a nod of acknowledgement and rolled with it. “Fine, then. Top shelf ass. The finest boy.”

The thought of a mere boy, for Erwin Smith, was laughable to Mike, but he was skilled at keeping a straight face. No boy could give Erwin what none knew he wanted and only a few went so far as to presume.

Nanaba continued to win the game with little issue, which kept Zielen talking through his frustration. He was newest of the Squad Leaders, eager to prove himself to his colleagues who’d been there when wall Maria fell to the Titans only two years ago. He wasn’t handsome, not by most standards, with a flop of mousy brown hair on his head and a disproportionately narrow jaw. He spent a lot of time at the brothels, when they were inside the walls. Obviously, he hated the idea of losing money because it also meant losing his only chance at getting laid before they set off again. The others dealt with it as he continued to press the idea of Erwin’s birthday present, and to blather on about the Glass House otherwise.

The Glass House was the most prestigious brothel in the inner walls, and those that worked its halls lived in luxury that even the most prosperous merchants envied. Zielen, of course, found it difficult to scrounge the money for the privilege of giving the Glass House his business, but certain elements of the sex trade in Mitras were known to all, and Zielen liked to speak like a man of means regardless.

“Levi,” he said, nodding. “That would be the way to go.”

“I’ve seen him,” Becker replied to that, and Nanaba gave Mike a withering look like she was tired of the entire discussion. “Not much to look at, I’d say.”

“Well, he commands top dollar. They say he’s the best sort of devil behind closed doors, and that must be true the way he struts around like he’s royal blood. I heard he started at the bottom of the sex trade, turning tricks in the Underground before he was taken into the Glass House, and after that it’s like he cast a spell on everyone who came to him.” Zielen paused briefly, staring at his cards, pulling at his bottom lip. “If we pooled our money we could possibly buy the Commander a night with Levi for his birthday.”

“Nothing doing,” Becker snorted, adding a soft, “I’m out,” as she turned her cards over on the table. “They say Levi’s spoken for by a wealthy benefactor since spring.”

“Oh, yeah.”  Zielen was caught at the disadvantage of forgetting his gossip, and nodded in a frantic attempt to show he was aware of the rumors, too. “I hear the guy who’s reserving him can’t even get it up anymore so he pays Levi to masturbate for him.”

“I heard it’s an old lady.”

Mike cleared his throat and threw in five more dollars boldly. “You two certainly seem to know a lot about whores. Are we playing cards or not?”

Humbled, Zielen folded. Mike won the hand and assured them Erwin wouldn’t be interested in a trip to the brothel for his birthday anyway, which was just as well because he wasn’t about to give up his winnings to fund such a thing.

Erwin was a dignified man, despite all the ways his station had worn him down.  An austere leader, discreet about his personal life. Careful and responsible because the public eye demanded it. It was easy for him to keep secrets, and unfortunately everyone who knew him respected him too much to try getting closer.

He received two bottles of port wine and three fine steaks for his birthday, two of which he gave away to his orderly (who had a family) and one he ate before slipping on his plain brown coat and setting off into the night.

It was drastically quiet in Mitras after the shop windows went dark and the carriages stopped running for the evening. Erwin liked the feeling of the city when most people were supposed to be asleep; it was a nostalgic sort of comfort that took him back to simpler days, younger days. Thinking about younger days on his birthday was a given, wasn’t it? He’d wandered these streets only a few times in his youth, when his mother had traveled for her work and taken him along. The cobblestone of the streets seemed dirtier with age, but then everything inside the walls seemed dirty after he’d seen the endless, terrifyingly open landscape outside. There was also safety with the walls, he knew, and so he liked being wrapped in their comfort for a few days at a time, days that allowed him to unpack memories he’d rather not have and box them back up neatly to deal with in due course.

The Glass House was a tall, thin building situated between a furniture refinishing shop and a dressmaker’s. It was obvious where the dressmaker did most of its business, seeing the intricate and beautiful frocks the ladies of the House wore. At The Glass House, not everyone’s money was welcome. There were exacting and elitist requirements of income, property ownership, or simply military rank to be met before one could even enter, and Erwin earned his entrance by the latter. He also supposed his appearance had something to do with it, the way the House Mother had looked him up and down months ago and told him an exception could be made for him, regardless of his station. “You’ll be appreciated,” she’d added, in a tone that just barely suggested she was plotting to woo him into another line of work.

His coat was taken and a drink was offered, which he gladly accepted before asking if Levi could please be alerted of his presence.

“How should we announce you?” The House Mother, who went by the name of Catherine, asked him. A smirk stretched her lips because she’d obviously been waiting for the day to come.

Erwin shrugged and allowed a cigar to be lit for him. The only nights he’d spent in the Glass House, he’d spent in the club alone. The liquor was good, the conversation cultured and constant and not burnt around the edges by military bitterness, and the cigars were a pleasant luxury he hadn’t expected to enjoy so much. He let the smoke billow from his mouth and spoke through it. “Tell him that his benefactor would like to introduce himself.”

Catherine’s eyes pulsed and a young man in a waistcoat and a floral ascot asked if he should relay the news. “No, I’ll handle this,” Catherine answered with a grin, and ran her lace-gloved fingers over Erwin’s arm in passing. Her delight at the task was evident. Catherine had become what Erwin was not ashamed to realize was a friend during the last few months. She was a sturdy, well-educated woman who ran a shrewd and fair business, and she employed just enough acerbic wit in their tête-à-têtes to keep Erwin jovially distracted from everything else – the fact of Levi being upstairs and unoccupied was, after all, only one temptation the place had to offer.

Erwin had seen Levi shopping for a coat in Stohess many months ago, in the shop where he had his clothes tailored. He’d been standing at the dais for an inseam measurement, and his eye naturally wandered anywhere but the old, balding tailor kneeling in front of him. Levi was the only other shopper in his scope, and how could he avoid looking? After being stunned to momentary silence by his grace and quiet grandeur, Erwin set about a small, prudent campaign to find out who he was. It took far less time than he planned; it took more time for him to grow past the knee-jerk disbelief over such a spellbinding man’s line of work and overcome his own prejudices.

The longer he was unable to forget Levi’s face, though, the more those prejudices sloughed away.

Erwin met Catherine and asked what the price would be for Levi’s company. He multiplied that by a significant amount, plundered his private accounts, and asked her how long that would buy. She’d only cocked an eyebrow and asked whether he presumed he could possibly own the young man, with money like that. Erwin explained that he had no family and required few luxuries.

“Should I inform Levi that he was a required luxury, then?”

After momentarily considering how much money he was putting into such a lonely endeavor, Erwin said, “Yes, that would be fitting.”

Levi came down the grand staircase that opened its carpeted mouth into the lounge wearing a suit of grey silk, lustrous and fitted, with a plain white shirt spread just enough to reveal the ivory cravat tied neatly around his throat. Erwin rose to his feet to greet him only after spending a few moments in captivated silence. Levi lifted his hand and Erwin took it by the tips of the fingers for a kiss. He made only a mild attempt to contain a greedy gaze when they met eyes.

“I didn’t expect a soldier,” Levi admitted.

“You don’t seem disappointed.”

He not only dressed like a gentleman, he behaved like one. Nothing less should have been expected of someone who made his career on the talent of seduction, but Levi had cultivated his social graces somewhat more carefully than others. His eyes swept Erwin again, and he moved around to the bar. “I’m not,” he noted. “I just didn’t expect that you made such money.”

Erwin began with telling Levi exactly what he’d told Catherine, and they conversed briefly about the time frame until the next Survey Corps expedition as Levi was handed a teacup. Erwin regarded the dainty porcelain thing with a sidelong glance.

“I don’t drink,” Levi explained, holding the cup primly by its lip as he went for the stairs. “Let’s go to my room, we’ll discuss our business further.”

Eyes followed them, from the patrons and from the other House workers alike. “Everyone’s looking at you,” Erwin observed from a couple of steps behind, and only because he wanted to hear what Levi had to say about that.

“They always do,” he replied. “Now more than ever, though. I haven’t taken anyone upstairs since March. Understand: they’re not just looking at me.”

Levi paused on the penultimate step before the landing, and glanced down at Erwin with a lordly, though curious, expression. The Commander took in a deep breath and tightened his hand on the polished wood of the railing before answering, “Yes, then. I’m glad you honored my conditions.”

Even more curiously, Levi extended the shared look, and when he glanced away a small huff of laughter escaped him. He led the rest of the way in silence, around the crimson-carpeted landing and past several doors of thick, carved oak. The Glass House had once been a grand boarding house and its opulence was always to be highlighted by the behavior of its staff and clientele, never used as a garish backdrop for whatever proclivities may have been indulged behind those doors. Erwin respected the love and care that obviously went into the place. He wanted to ask if Levi enjoyed his work, but a polite upbringing had taught him to read a situation where it hadn’t taught him anything about prostitutes. He could see cold clockwork, however graceful, possessing Levi’s movements as he held the door open. Levi was the best at what he did, Erwin reminded himself, with all too much understanding, which said nothing about how little he may have enjoyed doing it.

He was grateful that the door closed behind him before gut-deep discomfort could settle. Still holding his drink in one hand, he turned to Levi and smiled as gently as he thought appropriate. “Well, then,” he spoke softly, “you have quite a room.”

“I do well for myself.”

High ceilings topped walls papered with flocked ivory damask over taupe carpet that felt plush even under the heels of Erwin’s boots. It had been a grand suite when the boarding house was operational, that much was certain; it was spacious and sparsely furnished and the four poster bed that crowned the room looked fit for the king himself.

“Why did you wear your uniform?” Levi asked in passing, and shrugged out of his jacket to reveal thin braces over his shoulders as he did. Though the sight nearly proved a distraction for the Commander’s hungry eyes, he certainly heard the question.

“I have my reasons.”

“Ah,” Levi turned. The look on his face suggested that he was all at once, if only slightly, unimpressed. “I see.”

Erwin allowed the cutting expression to fall away unchallenged. He’d seen worse from his colleagues. “Now that we’re alone, is there anything you’d like to ask me?”

“You can make yourself at home; I trust you to treat things with respect,” Levi remarked, plucking his teacup back up and gesturing with his free hand. He sipped once as Erwin took a seat in one of the large wingback chairs. “Yes, actually, there is. You could afford a comfortable house with the sort of money you threw at me without even contacting me for months. I suppose it’s not so much a question as a clarification. That is: I hope you don’t presume that you saved even an ounce of my purity by buying me away from my work. That was gotten to, long ago.”

“I don’t care about that,” Erwin said, leaning back into the chair with a comfortable grunt. He crossed one leg at the knee and swirled the liquor with the mostly-melted ice in his glass. “I just wanted you to be so ready to fuck by the time I finally came to you that you’d be eager to destroy me.”

It felt strange, almost exhilarating, to take the conversation to a base level. His interactions in the club downstairs had always been quite civil, if not polite -- though the Glass House specialized in fulfilling carnal desires, Erwin rarely heard such language thrown around. Even outside of the strangely decorous brothel, he had little cause for such words, despite being quite fond of them.

Levi was intrigued, but obviously skeptical. He paused, glanced at the door as if to ensure he’d left it unlocked in case of emergency, and took in a deep breath. “Destroy you?”

Erwin nodded. “I’ve spent considerable money for the privilege.”

Levi lowered his teacup and tilted his head in more earnest analysis of the words. “I hope you still mean sexually.”

A small, almost nervous laugh broke from Erwin at that. No matter how exciting it was to hear himself speak of certain topics, it still threw him off to hear it from others. “Of course I do.”

The mood had to be properly set, to coax him out of his practiced inclemency and into a passionate frame of mind. He was a big man and knew the liquor would take its time to effect his habits, if so little would do anything at all. He finished off the drink, and within an instant Levi was reaching in to take away the empty glass. Left with nothing to busy his hands, Erwin tapped his fingers on the armrests. “It’s my birthday, by the way.”

“Happy birthday,” Levi said, a solemn note to his tone that made Erwin narrow his eyes. An explanation followed. “I know how valuable those are, for someone in your branch.”

“You don’t hold the usual Mitras prejudices against the Survey Corps, then?”

Levi shrugged one shoulder. “We don’t pay taxes on most of our earnings. I couldn’t care less what the money’s used for as long as the Titans don’t break through those walls.”

“Those with the most money tend to be most concerned with where their pittance is going.”

“I’m certainly not one of those people, then,” Levi said, sighing, moving around to the edge of the bed. “I should have you know, though, that politics is off limits for conversation with me. It kills the mood.”

“What would you rather talk about, then?”

“Why should we talk at all?” He grabbed the top edge of the comforter and yanked it down on one corner, unveiling the sheets beneath. Erwin withheld his laughter but fixed Levi with an incredulous stare as he answered.

“Because we have lot to catch up on since I saw you shopping in Stohess.”

Though stunned for  a moment by the confession, Levi glanced down with a slight smile and nodded, like it was all clicking into place. “I bought a really nice coat that day. I remember seeing you. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen you in person, but it was the first time I’d seen you out of the context of some political event.”

“I’m surprised you knew me by face.”

“Erwin Smith,” Levi paused as he worked off the cravat at his neck, and fixed Erwin with a stern look. “Either your attempts at being humble are just that transparent, or you honestly don’t know how well known you are, as a legitimately attractive high-ranking member of the military.”

Erwin blinked slowly as he let the compliment wash over him; it warmed him better than the liquor had. Of course he knew. His private life was the source of rampant public speculation, most of which centered around the common opinion that he’d been single too long. The public, and the tabloid press in the inner walls, failed to consider too often the rigors of his job when they made him into a sex symbol. It served a dual purpose: it gave the public an irresistible poster boy for the fight against the Titans, and it allowed the upper class to debase him while still touting their alleged support of the Survey Corps endeavors. Erwin was a celebrity whether he liked it or not. He tried not to pay too much attention to what people said about him, but in this particular instance the more sordid things sprung to mind.

The mood was slowly becoming a thing he could work with. “Have you fantasized about me?”

Levi slid the cravat from his neck silently and began to step for the chair with a slow, sultry gait. “Of course I have.”

“I’ll bet you say that to all your well-known clients.”

“No, but I assure you all my clients fish for the some reassurance of their individuality with that very question,” Levi stopped in front of the chair and nudged Erwin’s foot aside, uncrossing his legs so he could pour himself into his lap. He stuck his knees firmly into the space next to Erwin’s thighs and mounted him easily, sliding arms around his shoulders while a deep breath filled his chest. The fact of the size different between them became more apparent than it had been just walking the halls of the House, and Levi’s eyes lit with obvious desire. The cold clockwork was gone. “But you’re actually different. You’re my type. You’re famous. When you’re famous and my type it means I tend to close my eyes while some fat, out-of-shape merchant pounds my ass and imagine you instead.”

“Hmm,” Erwin was almost convinced, and certainly his ego continued to be buoyed by the talk. “That’s refreshing.”

“I like to think about you while someone’s coming on my face.”

Erwin finally lifted his hands and slid them around Levi’s waist. “Except you haven’t had cause to be in either of those situations for some time now.” His tone was quietly testing; he was exceptionally talented at keeping his passions under control, even when they were lit so recklessly.

“So it’s been a while, thanks to your money’s little _condition_.” Levi’s fingers combed through Erwin’s hair and the Commander gave a low, soft moan at the feeling. “It doesn’t mean the basic concept isn’t still true. Maybe now I only think about you sometimes when I beat off in bed. So you can imagine I’m just barely withholding my pleasant surprise that you’re in my room right now, in the flesh.” He flexed his thighs purposefully. “Very nice flesh, I might add.”

“Why do they call you the best at this, Levi?” Erwin asked, getting used to the sound of his name as Levi’s fingernails dragged lightly over his scalp, massaging him to a tingling calm.

“They don’t call me the best at this; I _am_ the best at this. And let’s call _this_ what _this_ is, shall we? Sex for pay. Fucking.”

“I asked _why_. What sets you apart?” Erwin looked up at Levi’s face as the smaller body rocked slowly, easily on his lap.

“Look at me,” Levi said, his voice dipping to the thinnest whisper he could manage between them. “I’m the perfect size to toss around, the perfect thing for men to feel complete lordship over while they do whatever they want to my body. But I’m also tough as nails, strong as any of your soldiers; I won’t break for any of it.”

Erwin’s nostrils flared and his hand wandered down to slide over the curve of Levi’s ass. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Levi’s breath smelled of mint and he leaned close enough that the edges of his hair dragged on Erwin’s forehead. “Except you told me to destroy you.”

Erwin paused. “I did.”

“I’m with a lot of people – men, women, people – who appreciate my strength for other reasons. I give as good as I take, Commander.” Levi’s voice, addressing him by his title, set an altogether unexpected fire in Erwin’s belly, and he moaned softly at it. “You like it in the ass?”

“I do. Not exclusively. But I definitely do.”  

Levi’s whisper turned rasping and rough when he left that line of questioning right where it was. “You can kiss me, you know; that’s not a problem for me.”

Erwin’s lips were barely parted, and he may have been on the verge of a question but Levi’s mouth grabbed his in a hard kiss before he could utter another word.

When they broke apart, momentarily satisfied, Levi said, “Most people who come to see me have their clothes off by now. Or mine.”

“Well, most of your clients pay by the night, I assume. I’ve paid for months.”

“So what do you want to know?”

The question turned back on him. “What do you want to know?”

Erwin kissed him again, unwilling to wait for a reply, starving for his mouth after only a few moments apart. His hands groped on Levi’s back strongly, fingers pushing beneath the leather cords of his braces to slip them off the shoulders. Levi gasped away. “I want to know if you’re ready for me,” he said.

As he posed the not-quite-question, one of Levi’s hands twisted slyly between them. Keeping his eyes steady on Erwin’s, he cupped between his legs with a fierce, barely subdued grab. Erwin’s eyes dilated slightly; Levi smirked and kept his hand right where it was. “Oh, hello there, big boy.” His fingers traced the ridge of Erwin’s stiffening cock gingerly. “You mean to tell me you look like this, _and_ you’re hung, and you have to pay for sex?”

“I have to pay for sex with _you_ ,” Erwin clarified, pushing his hips toward Levi’s hand as it rolled on his still-growing erection.

“Well, now that I’ve written out the possibility of you having a tiny or malfunctioning dick, it means you want to get kinky. What’s the catch? You asked if I have questions and that’s what I want to know.”

Erwin snatched his hand away and Levi gasped as he was pulled flush with the bigger body; hot lips latched onto his neck while thick fingers kneaded fiercely at his ass. “By way of explanation, I’m going to tell you a secret I’ve never told anyone.”

Mostly unconcerned with the declaration, eager to let Erwin go on as he pleased (if blathering was his thing), Levi slid his hands under the uniform jacket and felt the muscles on his back greedily. It had been easy to keep himself celibate, for the most part. He treated it as an extended vacation and masturbated to relieve the tension that inevitably built up, but until he was seated in Commander Erwin Smith’s lap with Commander Erwin Smith’s hands sliding over and between his thighs, Levi didn’t realize how much tension still remained. “Confess away.”

“When I was fourteen years old – a trainee with the military – I let five older boys take advantage of me while I was on leave.”

Levi seemed mildly concerned, as well he should have been when the sensual tone of Erwin’s voice offset the gravity of his words. “You _let_ them?” He paused. “Five of them?”

“To be perfectly honest, I asked them,” Erwin answered with a nescient shrug. “I was back home, on a one week leave to visit my family, and I ran into a Survey Corps rookie while I was out for the evening. One thing led to another and I wound up sucking his cock, because my main goal of going on leave in the first place was to get laid before I went back to training. Getting it out of my system seemed preferable to obsessing over breaking fraternization rules. Most of the cadets who went on leave virgins came back not. It was a good alternative to getting caught with your pants down in the barracks.”

Though interested, Levi’s impatience at the long-winded explanation grew obvious. “So where do the five boys come in?”

“The next day,” Erwin glanced at him quickly, and slid a hand under Levi’s shirt and up the curve of his back, “when I asked him if we could meet to do it again.”

Levi’s lips twitched with a smile. “And let me guess: he brought friends.”

“He asked if I knew anyone who would help his friends out. For whatever reason, the Survey Corps was in town. I think they were passing through on their way to an expedition outside the walls, but he tried to use their apparent impending death to talk me into finding friends for all of them. It was a guilt trip. I didn’t need that. I’d only done it once and already I knew what I wanted more than anything.”

“What was that?” Skimming his fingers over the edge of Erwin’s hairline, Levi bit his bottom lip in sudden dirty enchantment. Being confessor to his clients was unsurprisingly common, but rarely were their deep, dark secrets so compelling. Usually they were just pathetic and depressing.

Erwin actually seemed proud of his teenage deflowering, and he met Levi’s eyes directly to answer the question.

“Cock. I wanted as much as I could take, so I asked him to meet me and to bring his friends. Conveniently, the friends _I_ supposedly lined up didn’t show. I offered my services instead.”

“You slut,” Levi said playfully, and leaned in to kiss Erwin’s lips again before the story went on. “You started earlier than I did.”

“They made a circle around me behind the wall of the reservoir near my house and I took them all in my mouth, one by one until they got impatient and started poking their cocks at my face, wanting me to go back to them. Two at a time, at that point; I’d get one cock down my throat as far as I could while I jerked off another. The impatience took over, though, and the ones who weren’t in my mouth or my hand pulled off my pants and started fingering me, started rubbing my cock and slicking me up with spit and precome. I knew what was coming and I don’t know whether they expected me to try and stop them, because no one said a word while it was going on. Everyone just went with the energy, which I realized I was directing.”

“You’re a natural leader.”

“I was bucking my hips back against them, spreading my knees on the ground, moaning and drooling on dick while they wedged fingers in my ass. I don’t know why I wanted it so much, I don’t know why I kept saying ‘yes’ and ‘please’ and ‘more’ when I got moments to speak, but I came before any of them were even inside me. I think I came on the thrill of being in that position.” Erwin’s hands wandered up beneath Levi’s shirt as buttons came undone, and together they worked the fabric apart bit by bit. Levi’s skin, pale with golden tones, was unblemished and glowing over the sleek and powerful definition of his muscles. His age was a well-kept secret but his guise of youth was uncanny. “They took turns fucking me, of course. Being obviously unused to the experience, for the most part, everyone finished pretty quickly. Cocks were pushed right back in my mouth and I didn’t even recoil. I remember come dripping down my thighs and off my chin where I tried to swallow but my gag reflex kicked in. They tore me up inside and out but I was so calm, so strangely blissful. I splashed water on my face and walked home. Didn’t speak a word of it. I let the next person I slept with believe I was still a virgin.”

Erwin left the story there for a moment, returning to the present tense long enough to realize Levi had stilled completely, shirt halfway off his arms. “I was the only one who came twice,” he added, tone airy and thoughtful. “Then I thanked them. I gave them what they wanted, but I don’t think they expected me to be so willing it would rattle them. One of them asked me how much they owed. My friend from the night before smacked him and said I wasn’t a whore. But I could see the look in their eyes.” 

Gulping to wet his suddenly dry throat, Levi pulled his shirt off, and, finding no words, just reached in to rest a palm against Erwin’s chest, curling his fingers on the well-worn leather strap buckled across the broad muscles.

There was a postscript. “They were all alive when I joined the Corps. Two of them were in the squad I got assigned to. They wouldn’t look at me. They pretended not to know me. They got eaten on our first expedition together.”

Noting that Erwin’s voice had returned to a steely tone, and presuming to bring the mood back to a fever pitch for both of them, Levi rolled his hips strongly. “Were you happy about that?”

His eyes found Levi’s immediately. “I was completely indifferent. It doesn’t change the fact that I haven’t been fucked like that since I was fourteen years old, mistaken for a whore because I took to it so eagerly.”

“Were they that good?” Levi seemed incredulous because he knew that wasn’t the point. But he wanted it in Erwin’s words.

“No, but they took control of me and that’s what I’ve been too ashamed to ask for, all these years.”

“There’s an analysis of your psychology to be made there, I’m sure,” Levi said, and Erwin pulled him down into a slow, deep kiss. As their lips pushed and sucked together, slim fingers traced beneath the collar of Erwin’s shirt and pulled the bolo tie from his neck.

Levi drew back up to his sitting posture and slipped the leather cord around his bare neck, letting the heavy jeweled slide fall warm against his hairless chest.

Erwin gave him a knowing smile, and Levi returned it. “Well, look at that. Now I’m the Commander.”

As Erwin filled his chest with a slow, substantial breath, Levi slid away, stepping out of the chair and back on the balls of his feet. He maneuvered over the shirt that fell to the floor and stood in front of his longtime secret benefactor, trousers weighed down by the loose hanging braces, fabric pulled low enough to reveal the muscled caps of his hipbones. Erwin devoured the sight with his eyes but always came back to the center, seeking out the flesh that disappeared beneath the clothes.

When Erwin looked back up for instruction, thrilled momentarily by the sight of his rank displayed proudly on a prostitute’s chest, Levi lifted a finger and silently beckoned. He took two more steps away from Erwin, until he was almost at the baseboard of the giant bed.

Confident at the possibilities being presented, Erwin got to his feet, but Levi was quick to reprimand him. “Nuh-uh.”

The response was immediate; Erwin stopped in his tracks, and didn’t take another step. In the sudden stillness Levi waited a beat before pointing a finger down at the floor. “Crawl for me.”

Heat flashed through Erwin, a sort of shocking heat he hadn’t felt for years that started in his gut and made his cock strain even harder against his body.

The carpet was as soft beneath his hands as it looked when he dropped to his knees and moved forward on all fours. Levi seemed entirely comfortable staring down at him, and Erwin only eyed him more hungrily to see the dark authority in his expression. Prostrate before the smaller man after closing the short distance, Erwin asked, “What do you want me to do?”

Occasionally there was a client who wanted Levi to take control. Some were shy and some got off on the thrill of being dominated psychologically. Erwin certainly didn’t fall into the category of shy, but Levi suspected that the thrill was more than simply psychological in his case. He was abundantly happy to provide the control from any aspect Erwin wanted it, though, symbolically or otherwise. Anything to make this man happy; not only because he’d paid for it, but because Levi was already getting light-headed with desire, running over the ten thousand things he’d already done with and to and for Commander Erwin Smith in his filthy mind.

“What you want more than anything.” Levi reached down and spread his fingers through Erwin’s hair, noticing when those pretty blue eyes averted their gaze at the touch. “Worship my cock.”

The time they had to catch up on may have been Erwin’s excuse for drawing out his conversation, but he wasted no time in responding to Levi’s order. He pulled forward as much as he needed, and with a deep sigh of need pressed his face to the front of Levi’s trousers. It had been a painfully long time since Erwin had felt another man harden at his touch, and it had been even longer since he’d felt the taut heat of a cock inside his mouth. He turned his cheek away from the growing ridge running down the inside of Levi’s thigh and opened his lips on it, breathed out against it, flattened his tongue along the outline of it.

Levi was more than willing to let Erwin take his time; he leaned slightly back for the best view as the man who seemed so stiff and proper in his public image slowly became looser, not just in his actions but literally in the body language Levi could see. His shoulders relaxed visibly and his eyelashes drooped with contented ease as he lost himself to a carnal hunger for cock. Worship seemed to be second nature for the proud Commander. Despite being fascinated by the lazy pace of the transformation, Levi couldn’t help opening his mouth, softly and deeply telling Erwin to, “Take it out.”

Big hands on his cock were a normal feeling, one that hardly fazed Levi the way it used to, when he’d been younger and less experienced and had enjoyed the thrill of being manhandled under the right circumstances. The feeling of Erwin’s touch was nothing new, then. But as Erwin pulled him out of his trousers and pushed his lips together like a man in the thrall of a holy vision, Levi realized this was the opposite of being manhandled. Big hands being so delicate and tentative on his cock felt different, and the man those hands belonged to looked unexpectedly pretty when his lips parted and he breathed out on a faint moan, just looking at the stiff dick in his hand.

“Are you wondering what it’ll be like in your ass?” Levi reached down and combed through Erwin’s hair.

“Yeah.”

His fingers pushed harder; this hair was soft, not at all like he’d imagined, and he suddenly wanted fistfuls of it. Where he couldn’t start grabbing just yet, his voice got harder instead. “Do you like it? I’ve got a nice cock, don’t I?”

Erwin didn’t look away from it, taking in every detail and running his middle finger up the underside of Levi’s cock to trace its proud length. Six inches, probably, he judged by sight and by knowing how his own erection fit in his hand. Levi was thick, a comfortable fit for the curve of his hand, and he got thicker at the base. Erwin leaned in to press his lips there first, above the balls, just to feel the rest of it twitch against his face at the sensation. “Yes,” he breathed.

“I’ll bet you’re real good at sucking cock, too,” Levi said, stilling his hand to watch as Erwin’s tongue travelled up and then back down, curving to cradle his shaft while eager fingers groped gently at his balls. Erwin nodded where he was. “Yeah, I thought so. Sluts should be.”

Erwin pursed and licked his lips to glistening before he slipped them over the head of Levi’s cock. He gave in to a moan of relief at the taste of it and the heavy feeling of it filling his mouth, sucking tentatively to reorient his desires and his talents. It was a pleasant surprise that, even with his luxury lifestyle and obvious attention to taking care of himself, Levi wasn’t all lavender baths and unnecessary perfumes. He was musky and hot, and Erwin just closed his eyes and let the smell remind him of clumsy blowjobs in barrack cots and sticky gropings under the cover of night at base camp. He only trusted select people, and even those people were usually on their knees for him, not the other way around. He never had the time to convince them he preferred it the other way around.

Slowly, his lips moved further, he took Levi deeper, closed his eyes and concentrated on the thick hardness in his mouth and the hand on the back of his head that kept getting stronger, more demanding.

“Yes,” Levi held on to a long, quiet hiss and curled his fingers in Erwin’s hair. “Take it deep for me, get it nice and wet and hard before I fuck your ass.”

Erwin opened his mouth wide to gulp the deepest breath he could manage before responding to Levi’s order. His lips stretched and crawled down until his nose touched Levi’s abdomen (the crown jewel of the Glass House seemed to have shaved off most of his body hair; the skin there was flawlessly smooth). He felt Levi’s cockhead press into the roof of his mouth and curve reluctantly down to the tightness of his throat; the strain against his jaw was incredibly gratifying.  

He considered pulling away, but felt Levi pushing on the back of his head. Erwin realized he was being held in place on Levi’s cock and moaned deeply, trying for a breath as he moved his mouth in the shallowest stroke possible.

“That’s nice,” Levi said thickly, after Erwin’s moan vibrated over his entire length. “Sucking cock all the way down was not a talent I’d expect from the Commander of the Survey Corps.” He paused, relaxing his hold just slightly, allowing Erwin to move off him enough to gain his bearings before continuing. It was of great interest to Levi, to know just how enthusiastic Erwin was when he wasn’t being pushed. “Do you like me talking to you?”

Immediately, Erwin pulled back and let Levi’s cock slide out of his mouth. His lips were flushed and looked plumper from the workout, a detail Levi certainly enjoyed when the Commander looked up at him beseechingly, one hand pumping at the spit-slick length of cock in his hand. Erwin didn’t say a word, he just nodded up, kneeling there in his full uniform while Levi ran fingers through his hair almost lovingly.

“Good, because you’re making me have a lot of thoughts I’d rather not keep to myself.” He paused. “But I didn’t say your hot little slut mouth could stop sucking me.”

Before Erwin could respond to the reprimand, Levi reached in and grabbed his shaft, pushing Erwin’s hand aside as he did. Erwin opened his mouth, leaning forward, but hesitated when Levi pointed his cock away at the last moment. Suddenly, before he could withdraw again, Erwin was stunned by the hot, heavy slap of Levi’s dick against his face. He gasped, his humiliation blending with excitement, looking up as if he expected Levi to say something. No explanation was needed; Levi just cocked an eyebrow and smacked him again, smearing spit and precome on his cheek. Erwin’s eyes fell, a slightly dejected look on his face even though hard, fast breath continued to move his chest.

“Look at me,” Levi encouraged him sweetly, momentarily worried that he’d gone too far even for Erwin’s particular proclivities. It had been a risk, but he knew well the game of constantly remapping the boundaries. Erwin’s blue eyes may have looked spellbound and humble, but Levi still asked, “Do you like it when you get your face slapped with cock because you’re a dirty little slut?”

Erwin barely nodded, obviously ashamed, and that sort of secret enthusiasm was just what Levi wanted to see. In response he simply reminded Erwin, “Look at me,” and continued, watching the handsome, proud face carefully for any signs of reconsideration.

“You flinched,” he noted wryly when Erwin jerked away from him with a sour look, but his amusement quickly faded. Levi went still, and let go of his cock to pet Erwin’s hair with measured affection. “I’m sorry. Was that too much?”

“It’s okay,” Erwin said, as confidently as he’d ever said anything.

“You’re sure?”

He still had the eyes of a soldier, the eyes of a stalwart leader, even behind the glaze of debasement and arousal. “It wasn’t too much.”

Levi breathed in slowly, his cock throbbing while those eyes stared into him. “Did you like it?”

Erwin rolled his head into the steady hand petting his hair. His eyelashes drooped again. “Yes,” he said.

They were silent for a few seconds, but when Erwin’s eyes opened they went right back to Levi’s cock. His command to worship felt dismally incomplete, and Erwin was a man who didn’t tend to leave things unfinished.

“You’ve waited long enough,” Levi said, plucking his cock between thumb and forefinger and pointing it at the Commander’s already-parting lips.  

Erwin pounced on him immediately, swallowing Levi’s length and grabbing his ass to pull him closer. While Levi squirmed happily against the thick fingers plying at him, Erwin’s head bobbed up and down on his cock in long, greedy passes.

After a minute or so, Levi remembered that he wasn’t supposed to be keeping his thoughts to himself, especially not so close to orgasm. “I didn’t think I wanted to come yet but I’m having second thoughts. I do want to – I want to come all over your uniform before I fuck you.” As the composure in Levi’s voice began to disintegrate, he spaced out his words and threw gasps between them. “Fuck. You suck that good. You keep doing that and I’m gonna come soon. I’m gonna tell you to lean back so I can cover that fucking uniform in come.”

Soldiers, regardless of their branch, tended not to visit the Glass House in their uniforms, not that there was any shame implicit in being military and being a patron. Most were simply married, or momentarily off duty at the very least, glad to be out of the constricting gear. But Erwin had “his reasons” for wearing his regalia, and Levi was taking a wild guess as to what those reasons were.

Erwin started to suck him even harder and Levi responded to every note of slurping intensity with a moan or a sharp breath. Those big hands reached into the pants barely clinging to Levi’s thin hips, kneading his ass roughly, flesh-on-flesh as the tension of the moment mounted. Levi had to be nearing orgasm, Erwin thought. He absolutely had to be. The thought of catching a load of come on his uniform, such a blatant show of disrespect, made Erwin so hot that he worked harder at Levi’s cock just to mask the shame of wanting it.

Levi’s stomach was tight and his head swam with possibilities, plans, things to say once he managed to form words. Erwin swallowed him to the root again and drew back, repeating the impressive display eagerly as Levi moaned and threw declarations of approval out in a small voice. Finally, though, he grabbed a fistful of Erwin’s hair and pulled him back.

Smoothly, and with tracks of drool drawing lines down the sides of his chin, Erwin rose to his knees and leaned back. He was panting hard, rolling his jaw, marveling at the strain he felt. Levi stepped closer and pumped his hand over the length that was swollen hot and ready to blow. “Tell me to do it, tell me to come on you.”

For a moment, Erwin’s eyes flashed with what seemed like surprise that his input was being requested. He found his voice quickly enough. “Please… do it, please come all over me.” As he spoke Levi’s eyes wandered to the bulge in the already-tight trousers of his uniform. It had to be a painful erection, stifled and contained so unforgivingly. Levi’s hand sped up at the thought that Erwin might enjoy it that way.

“Is that what you want? You’re a filthy slut, aren’t you? That’s exactly what you want.”

Erwin had made a pledge to the uniform and it didn’t feel quite right to say ‘yes’, but he _was_ willing to reiterate: “Come on me, sir, please.”

There was less submission and more pure, simple _politeness_ in Erwin’s tone, and that was what made Levi groan and tilt his head back before snapping it forward to watch his come splatter in thick globs on the white shirt and the leather straps and the breast of the jacket, beneath the Survey Corps insignia. Levi grinned and gasped; he hoped Erwin would keep wearing it, even if a small blotch of discoloration remained from his spunk. He hoped he would wear it in front of royalty and the other Commanders, _knowing_.

Though no permission was given for what Erwin did next, neither of them particularly cared about such ceremony. Before a word could be said, Erwin leaned back up, and he licked and sucked the last dribbles of come from Levi’s cock, pumping him to spend every drop.  

“Fuck!” Levi cried out, grabbing Erwin’s hair for stability more than anything as he was emptied out by the greediest lips he’d encountered in all the long years of his career. “Yes, lick it clean, suck it all out for me. Fuck… yes…”

He was forced to pull Erwin off, finally, a sharp cry proving he was too tender for the attention to keep going even if his cock was still mostly hard. “Shit… shit…” Levi panted and took the opportunity to step out of his trousers while Erwin pouted beneath him. He pretended not to be turned on by that look, and ran a hand through his own hair before asking, in a slightly snappy tone between breaths, “Well? What do you say?”

“Thank you,” Erwin answered, quietly and evenly before he glanced down to look at the mess Levi made. He felt like someone else and he loved it, but seeing the uniform – even in its current state – reminded him that he was still Commander; even if a beautiful whore was wearing the most important part of his ensemble (and nothing else). “Thank you very much.”

Blinking slowly at the tone, Levi turned halfway to the bed. “You’re welcome.”

He smirked and thought for a few moments before deciding to go ahead and say what was on his mind. “Well, I’m going to need a few minutes, at least, so I was going to ask you to strip. But then I thought: sluts don’t need to get naked. You want to be able to pull your uniform right back on after you get your ass ruined behind the barracks, after all. Right?” He searched Erwin’s face for an indication that his little scenario was appreciated, but as usual the other man’s face was fairly unreadable. Just as well. “Get on the bed and pull your pants down and show me your cunt.”

An additional stipulation was added as Erwin got up and moved toward the bed unquestioningly. “Don’t take off a thing, if you can help it.”

“I’ll need to take off something,” Erwin answered, on his feet and at his full height when Levi turned to him. His stature was overwhelming and Levi was in just enough of a debauched state of mind to consider demanding something more generous from him. That body was sickeningly tempting.

Instead he just smoothed his hands over Erwin’s chest, looking over the straps and fabric, eventually falling into the trap of simply gazing at the bulge of his erection. “Well, figure it out, as efficiently as you can.”

He pushed Erwin back onto the bed, smiling at the awkward, almost nervous look on the larger man’s face. “I think… you don’t understand how this uniform works, I—“

With a sigh of exasperation, Levi put one hand on his hip. “Not really. I’m not in the business of wearing one. Enlighten me.”

Erwin explained, as quickly as he could. It was almost enough to make his cock soft, talking about the arduous process of getting in and out of his gear. Maybe that’s why soldiers didn’t risk fucking on the job often. It wasn’t the stress of duty, entirely, it was being too exhausted by the time everything was unbuckled and unwound and unstrapped and…

Levi narrowed his eyes and his face went tight with disbelief. “How do you people even take a shit if you need to? Who designed this?”

Erwin glanced away. “Yeah, it does seem pretty impractical.”

They both fell quiet, and may have laughed together if the mood had been definite. As it was not, Levi decided to test the waters.

“Well, if that little interlude didn’t kill your boner completely—“

“It almost did.”

“—but not completely?”

“No.”

Levi pushed against Erwin’s knee, urging him higher onto the mattress. “Get up there anyway. I’m still naked and you’re still gonna get fucked thoroughly, as soon as I get hard again.”

An airy laugh left Erwin and he remembered the reason he was there, felt the dull throb in his jaw, and wondered what Levi was going to come up with.

Dark, sultry eyes traveled over him. “Those boots are so fucking kinky,” Levi finally said.

“I—“ Erwin began, but of course there was nothing to say to that so he quickly shut his mouth again.

Levi threw a quick glance at his crotch and smirked. “Take it out for me. Let me see what you’ve got in there.”

Adjusting his position carefully, Erwin spread his legs and propped up on one elbow. Levi nodded again. The zipper of his pants, at least, was easy to get to, easy to pull down. With a twitching smile, Levi noticed the dark blond curls of Erwin’s pubic hair first. “You didn’t put on underwear when you got ready for our big night, I see.”

“Was it necessary?” Erwin quipped, but cut his own amusement off with a deeper breath as he pulled his cock out. Levi didn’t answer him, because of course he didn’t need to. His attention was immediately elsewhere, regardless.

After years in the business, it was difficult for Levi to be impressed by another person’s body. He’d learned to treasure only his own, and to fake everything else. He’d already allowed the mask to slip nominally with this man; after all, the esteemed and brave and traditionally attractive Commander Erwin Smith was well-known. He was already an ideal, a fantasy enjoyed by many in far less opportune sexual predicaments. Levi hadn’t lied about jerking off to the thought of him, but even then he’d never expected that his dirtier fantasies would manage to fall short of the real thing.

“That’s a fucking monster,” he said bluntly, nostrils flaring as he stared.

Erwin didn’t say thank you, but declined to offer any self-effacing attempt at denial. He knew it, and the smug smile pulling at his lips confirmed that he knew it. He stroked his cock lazily, coaxing it back to its full length, but even seeing its resting half-hardness Levi was forced to shuffle around some of the superlatives he’d seen in the past and make room for Erwin. It was significant room to make, too. Levi immediately wanted to screw himself down on that cock and ride it to a screaming, ugly climax, damn whether he could walk the next day or not.

The silence went on just a moment too long, apparently, because Erwin tilted his head and asked, “Anything else you’d like to say?”

Levi didn’t much appreciate the tone of voice from a man who bought his services with the stipulation of being taken full advantage of. He didn’t appreciate it because he knew what Erwin was doing to him, and he had to talk it out and keep his mind on the job. Yes, he was enjoying himself immensely, but he was a professional. This wasn’t about his experience.

“Yeah, that I want you to keep stroking that big cock for me.”  Levi turned away after casting one more glance at Erwin’s ungodly beautiful member as he screwed over it with a bit more purpose. “Not too much. Don’t you dare come for me until my dick is in your ass. Hold on. I’ll be right back.”

As Levi walked toward the ornate writing desk near the door, Erwin waited patiently and did as he was told. A drawer at the desk opened and, after a few moments of rustling, shut again. Erwin could only guess at what Levi was retrieving, and figured they would need it. The Glass House was a haven for the whoring set because, in addition to the most desirable of prostitutes, it was also equipped with luxuries such as lubricating oils made expressly for the purpose of sex. Such things were hard to come by for most; a frivolous expenditure, really, when enough spit and willpower would do the job.       

“Don’t get too hasty, there,” Levi broke Erwin out of a reverie he’d slipped into as his hand twisted tighter and quicker over his cock. “Slow down or you’re going to spray all over my bed, and we can’t have that. Not yet.”

Again, Erwin was silent, slowing his stroke respectfully as Levi climbed onto the bed, drew up on his knees, and looked down on him. “Keep going. Keep jerking it.” His eyebrows pulsed and a moan reaffirmed just what he thought of the Commander’s fully erect cock. “You chose me because I looked good to you, right?”

When Erwin continued to be silent, Levi slapped his knee, and turned the touch into a shameless opportunity to rub his palm against the warmth of the leather boot. “Answer me.”

“Yes.”

“So I was just that good-looking.”

“I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”

“What did you like about me? Just my face? Just my body? Did you always want me to be the man you paid to turn you into a whore, or did you first go home and think about my pretty little mouth stretched around your massive cock?”

Men – men bigger than Levi, men like Erwin Smith – liked to employ him. They liked to get his thighs wishboned around their bodies, to fuck him all the way to his guts, to make him cry. They were the sort of men who thought a tight ass only came in the package of a small, slender, boyish body – by and large, Levi thought they were the trashiest perverts.

So his heart actually leapt with excitement when Erwin muttered, “Of course I did.”

“Of _course_ you did, that’s more sure than you’ve sounded about anything yet. Tell me about it.” He leaned in as his cock began to stir, just barely waking up again after its recent exhaustion. Levi was eager to hear someone – someone he wanted so badly – confirm his own fantasies for once. Imperiously, intending fully to throw Erwin off, Levi poked his tongue out and licked a firm line up the curve of one boot.

It only took Erwin a second to gather himself after that display. “What you said earlier? That you’ve thought about me when men come on your face?” Erwin nodded when Levi showed a glimmer of smug acknowledgement. “That’s something that hit close to home.”

“Did you think about fucking me, too?”

“Yes.”

Levi was bending closer, reaching down to cup his own cock, gingerly encouraging it to rise to the occasion. “I don’t think I’ve ever taken a cock this big, actually.” He might have been lying but he didn’t care. It was worth bending the truth. “You’d have to open up my cunt real good to fit it all inside.” The closer he got, the more he had to concentrate to not be distracted by the way Erwin’s  balls bounced with every stroke of his hand or the way precome dripped from the cleft of his bright pink cockhead. “That’s okay,” Levi purred as he began to rock up and down in an openly suggestive motion, “I’d ride you nice and slow until you’re balls-deep and then you could fuck me as hard and fast and angry as you like with it. _Commander._ ” 

Erwin was panting, tensing, opening his mouth on a moan, and Levi’s head hovered dangerously close to his erection. For a moment, his hips lifted, aiming at Levi’s lips as they parted.

Then, Levi wrapped his hand around Erwin’s, clenching his fingers tightly. He leaned away, hissing “Shhhh,” as he slowed the stroke until their hands were almost still. “That’s not why you’re here, though. Or have you changed your mind?”

The consideration was obviously dancing in Erwin’s brain, the way he hesitated and grunted pitifully at the change of pace. Levi only smirked, and reminded himself that he was very, very good at his job. And this was, after all, about what the brave Commander wanted for his birthday.

“You’d better not have, because I found this.”

When Levi lifted a short, thin, and very sharp dagger, Erwin’s eyes flashed wide open. He looked momentarily terrified of what he’d gotten himself into. Instinct kicked in. “What… what are—“ His brow furrowed and Levi wrapped a sure hand below the knife’s hilt, pointing it safely away.

“Shhh… shhh, calm down, I’m not going to hurt you. This is for our utility.” He glanced down at Erwin’s crotch, past the pipe-hard jut of his cock, and suddenly everything clicked.

“You can’t rip up my uniform,” Erwin said, shaking his head, brow inverting to a pleading expression.

“Just a little,” Levi cooed, and wagged the dagger playfully. “Besides, whores don’t get to decide what happens to their precious uniforms after they’ve begged to get fucked as dirty as possible.”

That put an end to any arguments.

Pants could be replaced, Erwin told himself, and didn’t dwell on the worry of what he would wear when he left the brothel, bound for his own bed. He didn’t want to think about going back out into the real world yet. He’d need some time to decompress, at the least, and some clothes to borrow at the most.

“Hold extremely still. Still as a stone,” Levi ordered him calmly, and slid Erwin’s legs further apart to settle between them. He hunched down and Erwin saw the dark head mostly disappear as small hands began to grope on his inner thighs. Left on its own, his cock jumped embarrassingly despite his every effort to honor Levi’s request.

“Tell your dick not to hit me in the head while I’m down here, if you please,” Levi said, obviously amused before he added, “it might knock me out.”

“Don’t make me laugh, then. There’s a knife at my crotch.”

“I know. Exciting, isn’t it?” At that, Erwin felt the tip of the dagger run just barely over the center seam of his pants, and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from bucking toward or away from it. “Besides, I was being totally serious.”

Still as a stone, Erwin reminded himself. He felt the cold flat of the metal slip between the open flap of his zipper and his tenderest skin. It skimmed carefully there while Levi manipulated it against the fabric, slowly but surely breaking a hole through the seam. The blade began to warm against him. He stifled a conflicted moan.

“It’s totally okay if this is turning you on,” Levi said, his voice eerily soft but dancing to a key of amusement. “A little danger is great. I just didn’t expect it from an idiot who risks his life pointlessly all the time.”

The slight offense he took to the condemnation of his job kept Erwin grounded in reality until he felt the knife pass through the suddenly draftier crotch of his pants. Levi pulled at the hole in the fabric and the stitches popped apart with a satisfying, ravaged sound that tore through the silence of the room. “I’m absolutely destroying this uniform just to fuck your tight cunt. How does that make you feel?” Within seconds, he tore Erwin’s pants open from belly to back. “Does that excite you? Getting the clothes ripped off of you?”

Erwin swallowed hard. “Yes.”

Content with his ingenuity as well as his deft handling of the knife, Levi leaned away and surveyed his work. As he pushed the longer hair from his forehead, his grin faded to a different sort of expression and he noted, “Right now, you look better than I could have dreamed when I saw you sitting at the bar downstairs.” Levi shook his head as if the observation were anything but arousing.

Before the full draft of self-consciousness could wash over Erwin, Levi gave a soft command, phrasing it like a rounded question: “Lift your legs for me?” His hand flicked out, gesturing sharply with a nod to match.

The leather of Erwin’s boots wrinkled audibly as he bent his knees and hoisted his legs straight up until Levi told him to stop. He blocked his own line of sight in the position, back flat on the bed, looking up at the ceiling with his legs high and proud. His ass was bare to Levi’s gaze.

“Get the fabric out of the way. Spread your ass open for me.”

He hadn’t been in the market for making a show of himself when he told Levi his story and his birthday wish. Erwin would have, frankly, been content with being put on his knees to be railed without a word. Levi had gone above and beyond the call of duty already, so Erwin tried to feel honored beyond the burn of embarrassment as he reached around to spread hands on his own thighs, feeling lower to the flaps of durable wool that once met in the middle. He pulled them open and turned his head to look at the wall, noticing for the first time the mirror positioned just next to the bed, big enough that he could see his entire body in its reflection. His knees tensed and he sucked in a quick breath of excitement, colliding headfirst into the reality of his own position.

Levi existed just outside of the frame, but Erwin remembered him very well when he said, “Go on, hold yourself open so I can see. You know I’m going to fuck it, so why not?” When Erwin’s fingers just barely hesitated to move further, to spread the cheeks of his ass apart so flagrantly, Levi went on. “Would it make you feel less inhibited if I went and asked four others to join us? I’m sure I could find them. How does that sound, four other cocks to pound your ass all night long and keep those lips sucking down come? I’d almost be willing to buy you that. For your birthday. Or do you want the thrill of being out in the open? Because I could drag you into an alley, too.”

The thought was enough to ignite Erwin’s fantasies, and sure enough his cock throbbed impatiently at the words. He spoke up hoarsely nonetheless. “No, I only want you tonight. Right here.”

The mattress shifted with Levi’s weight as he moved forward slightly, and Erwin felt a hand on the back of his thigh, helping to hold him up. “What do you want me to do?” Levi asked.

Erwin looked at himself in the mirror, hair messy and cheeks flushed, and knew he had to say it sooner or later. “Fuck me.”

“Say it again?” Levi’s fingers slid over the straps on his thighs with fascinated slowness, and continued lower. Erwin gave in to the order at last, and pulled himself as open as he could. He wasn’t clean-shaven and immaculate and dewy with youth like Levi, but he felt confident enough that his ass was fuckable as any other.

“Fuck me?” He turned it into the subtlest plea he could manage.

He heard the faint sound of glass sliding against glass. Probably an oil bottle, at least Erwin hoped. He couldn’t take any more potentially lethal surprises near his nether-regions. “Want me to get you nice and wet, open up your hungry asshole that hasn’t gotten fucked in _so long_?”

There was no other answer to the question, of course, and Levi was parting Erwin’s knees apart before that answer could be uttered. The Commander had already proved not to be the most forthcoming when it came to bedroom talk, so Levi felt comfortable taking on that responsibility. Besides, he wondered whether Erwin’s reticence was part of the process. The psychological and the physical were playing off each other, and it was becoming obvious.

Levi’s fingers, slick with oil, pressed teasingly beneath Erwin's balls and dragged down to his entrance. He’d pushed his knees apart just so he could watch the reaction, and was not disappointed. Erwin closed his eyes immediately and opened his mouth on a gasp, and just when Levi thought he may have been preparing to flinch away he actually pressed his weight forward into the touch, quivering against it.

Something about a client who was blatantly eager to get fucked still stirred Levi’s basest instincts, even those that had been dulled by routine. “You should abandon the Corps,” Levi said, pressing in so Erwin wouldn’t be able to think about anything, much less analyze his words too carefully. “Leave it behind and come be a whore like me.” His finger slipped, against considerable resistance, into the tight heat of Erwin’s ass. “You’d just be trading one life of service for another, after all. Only in my line of work,” he paused, and let his voice join Erwin’s to encourage the moan that bubbled up from the larger man’s throat as he was fingered deeper. “In my line of work there are more blowjobs.”

Erwin’s lips trembled into a smile at the suggestion, but his eyes were still closed. He was visibly trying to relax, but Levi would be having none of the sweet, coy silence. “Your ass feels tight as it probably did when you were fourteen,” he mentioned, delighting at the precome pearling on Erwin’s cock from the stimulation. He fucked him faster with the single finger, and Erwin whined. Levi would allow him to keep his eyes closed, at least for now. “And you’re gorgeous, on top of it. You suck cock like a pro, and with a dick like yours, you wouldn’t even have to _try…_ Yeah, you should do it. Imagine getting fucked for a living.”

Finally, Erwin’s eyes opened. He was oddly focused, and Levi was nearly thrown off enough that he forgot to push the second dripping finger into him. For only a moment, a whimpering tension distracted Erwin, but then he asked Levi, “What’s it like?”

“Your cunt, or the job?”

Two fingers, thick and persistent, pushed into his ass. Erwin took a deep breath before answering. “The job.”

Levi considered the question. “I love it.” His answer was so flat, so strangely powerful that Erwin believed him thoroughly. “Where I started, I hated it. I worked in the Underground. I loved sex and I was good at it, and I was poor as shit. But, I was small and young and good-looking and willing to do anything so there were always people willing to pay for me. But it was hard. It was dangerous. I got beat up so bad I was barely recognizable, one time in particular.” Channeling the frustration and pain and humiliation of the history he so rarely shared with anyone – he had no idea why he was sharing it with Commander Erwin Smith – Levi slammed his fingers hard and deep, plied them open roughly, gritted his teeth and repeated the motion as he went on. Erwin’s eyes were watering involuntarily. He loved seeing that. “They found me, they took me in, they took care of me here. I keep my own money and I set my own rules. If I wanted to only suck cocks, I could do that, or if I only wanted to fuck pussy I could do that, because this place is okay, as opposed to the vast majority out there. I owe my life to this place, but it’s more complicated than that.”

Erwin cried out when Levi lanced in all the way to his palm, and stayed there stirring around, stretching, teasing. The story had reached its conclusion. “I could retire and live a comfortable life right now. But I stay here because, in addition to there being the occasional walking wet dream of a client like you, I respect the people I work for.” He pulled his fingers out slowly. “Can you say the same?”

This time, there was no answer. Levi swallowed thickly, appalled that he’d shared so much and broken his character to such lengths. Erwin’s silence, and his disaffected look, said everything.

“I’m sorry,” Levi finally offered.

Neither would look away; their expressions were fiery, volatile, nearly furious with needs unspoken, few of which had to do with sex. Levi breathed in slowly and slid forward on his knees, going ahead with the script even if his eyes were still fixed on Erwin’s, even if he was sure the moment they were sharing transcended more than either wanted to admit.

“We don’t want to know each other’s demons,” Erwin said.

Feeling no particular need to confirm the wisdom in that statement, Levi only nodded. The mood was bent, shaken, but no less intense for it. In fact, Levi felt in his heart the rarest excitement he got from the business of sex anymore, and it rattled around with all the potential to either electrify or destroy the moment. They’d both danced on the edges of secrets that weighed them down, and in doing so had managed to shrug them off just slightly, just enough to rise above the ground. For now, he felt like flying, even if a dizzying crash was his only way down.

He hated himself for feeling that way, but it was least heinous on the list of ways he could actually wick intimacy from something that should have been synonymous with the word. Erwin had broken character as well, so there weren’t many words to be said.

No questions, no remarks, no cues explicit or otherwise; Levi just pulled on Erwin’s legs, urging him forward as he knelt. The position seemed easy enough, but even as he slicked up his cock and prepared to give Erwin the hard, dirty fuck he’d asked for, the moment felt incomplete.

“Happy birthday,” he mumbled finally, and pressed the head of his cock against Erwin’s entrance.

“Don’t you dare.” Erwin’s voice sounded dark and transient again, with no real tone or intention beyond control. He sounded the way he had at the beginning of the evening, with a watery glass of whiskey in his hand and a secret still on his mind. Levi snapped to attention at the words, and when he looked at Erwin with a shocked expression, the man beneath him seemed nearly disgusted. “Don’t give me this. Not all of a sudden. You don’t want to be saved and you don’t want things to change. I didn’t pay for you to get that look on your face, and you wouldn’t have wanted me to. I paid to see how good you are at your job, and you’ve been worth it so far, so dust yourself off and fucking act like the best. You’re no different from me in the end, anyway. Fuck me.”

Levi smirked. “So this is why you’re a Commander.”

When he looked at Erwin the almost-smile faded completely. That look was unshakable, it was ferocious and absolute. “Fuck me,” Erwin reiterated strongly. “You brought out the side of me that wanted to get fucked tonight, so it’s up to you to bring it back out. Otherwise I can flip you on your back right now and pound your ass so hard you’ll crawl on all fours for a week, but that’s not what I came here for.”

The tips of Levi’s ears burned, and clarity began to overwhelm him again. “No,” he murmured slowly, “it’s not.”

“So you either give that back to me,” gesturing with his eyes at the bolo hanging from Levi’s neck, Erwin went on, “or find your way back to proving you deserve to wear it.”

Slowly, as clarity reached its peak and the whip of his ego returned, Levi leaned forward between Erwin’s legs. His tongue traced his teeth hungrily as he rose to the taunt. “You’re already wearing my come on your uniform, _Commander_.”

“Foreplay,” was the sneering, dismissive response.

Levi held Erwin’s gaze, and drew back only as far as he had to. He pressed in slowly. “Don’t think you’re manipulating me, you crafty son of a bitch.” His teeth scraped over his bottom lip and he growled as a hard push forced the tip of his cock past the tight seal of Erwin’s ass. “Now you’re going to lay there looking all stony like it doesn’t even feel good. You’re still just a filthy whore.” Erwin lifted his arms calmly and folded his hands behind his head as Levi’s hips rolled, sinking his thick shaft deeper. “Is this what you want, you little cockslut? Good luck trying to seem indifferent when I _know_ how well I fuck.”

Not wanting to leave him entirely without encouragement, Erwin cocked his head challengingly and moaned. It was a tepid sound, though, and this only managed to rile Levi more. Even if he knew it was exactly what Erwin wanted, the suffocating heat sucking his cock in was impossible to resist thrusting deeper into.

“That’s right,” Erwin growled as Levi buried himself fully. Pain still prevailed where he stretched painfully around the girth of that cock, and he was growing impatient enough to goad him further. “Don’t treat me like a goddamn shrinking violet who can’t handle a dick up his ass, and start _fucking_ me.”

“Shut up,” Levi said, and suddenly he launched forward, leaning until his cock popped out, just to clap a hand over Erwin’s mouth. Arched over him, catlike and graceful but beyond his limits of patience, Levi bent down until the tips of his hair touched Erwin’s face and snarled, “Shut up. You don’t get to say a thing. You be fucking quiet and take what you’re given. I don’t want to look at your face anymore; your ass is too good for your shitty attitude to spoil it. Turn over.”

Erwin’s eyes blazed with defiance over the top of Levi’s hand.

Levi allowed himself only one deep breath to appraise that expression, and to understand the fight it suggested.

He’d done things – physical things, things with his body that had nothing to do with sex – that defied what people might expect from his stature. Even when they’d seen his naked body, acknowledged his muscles and the strength he had, people still underestimated him. It put him at the advantage of fighting back when things went wrong, but being powerful also had its less common benefits.

Easily, Levi tucked a knee at Erwin’s side and grabbed his opposite arm. It took less than three seconds to roll him, and by then Levi had a knee on the small of his back and both arms locked tightly.

“When I let you go you’re going to grab that headboard, and stick your ass up for me, and you’re not going to say a word unless I ask you, unless I make you, unless it’s saying ‘yes’, and ‘more’, and ‘please.’ Okay? Fucking _got it?_ ”

Erwin nodded his face against the sheets. True to his word, Levi let him go.

The position, arms outstretched and head hung, lubed-up asshole on full display, looked even better on Erwin, but Levi was beyond the fawning attraction. Silently he moved between his spread knees and only spread them further, pushing Erwin’s ass down to meet his cock.

Erwin panted as calmly as he could when Levi shoved and handled him into place; with his hips so low his cock just barely brushed the soft fabric of the comforter. Erwin reminded himself that this was what he asked for. He reminded himself to turn off that temperamental need to direct and dominate, long enough to fucking enjoy being controlled for once. Just long enough for that. Why he’d given in to the temptation of driving the situation to another level of power play, he didn’t know, but at least Levi met him head-on. Feeling that powerful, rock-hard cock slice back into him with one mighty push was much better. There was no way to regret calling Levi out on nearly killing the mood when a shout tore from his throat. He bore his teeth against the burn and gripped the headboard tighter in his sweating hands as Levi started fucking him with immediate abandon.

“Like it?” Levi panted.

Erwin barely managed to whimper a shaky, “Yes,” against that intensity.

“What?” Levi asked sharply, not at all teasing and sexy the way he’d asked Erwin to repeat himself earlier. “Say it again.”

“Yes!”

“Yeah? Yeah, it feels so good, you feel so fucking good and tight…” He was in to the base of his cock, balls slapping against Erwin’s ass, the heavy slide of the bolo tie bouncing on his chest.

Erwin let go of the headboard only when it seemed his fingers might get slammed against the wall as the combined weight of their bodies began to shake the entire bed. With a sob, he fell forward, crossing his arms and pressing his forehead against them, crying out, trying to catch a breath. It was difficult to relax at all, to give any concession for Levi’s rod as it stretched him in a way he hadn’t felt for years. Getting torn open on a prostitute’s cock would make for a difficult injury to explain, but Erwin was beyond caring in the furious heat of the moment.

“Fuck back to me,” Levi suddenly demanded, slapping him once on his ass for good measure. “Don’t just take it, fucking show me you love it, whore.”

Against every instinct that told him to stop, relax, and demand that Levi give him even a moment, Erwin just nodded and arched his back to push against the hard fucking. Thrust by thrust, moment by moment, the discomfort melted away, and instead of fading to numbness, pleasure took its place. It certainly helped that, with every fierce roll of his hips at the new angle, Erwin’s cock brushed against the bed.

He moaned, gasping as he lost his rhythm and struggled to get it back. No end in sight, an extended moment, no history behind it or lonely reality ahead of it; drooling, panting, eyes watering every time their bodies crashed together. Sweaty, slippery, harder than he’d been for anyone, another year older in a tattered uniform that wanted him to feel lucky to be alive and wearing it.

He was sick of feeling lucky. He’d find his luck in card games and whore beds and he would earn every bit of it.

“Harder,” Levi’s voice was shockingly calm despite his power. “Fuck it harder. You want my cock, don’t you?”

“Yes!” Erwin yelped again.

“So do it, whore, make me come.” Fingers dug into his waist. “Make me come again, deep in your ass this time.” Erwin gasped out as Levi’s cock drove in with a thrust that knocked the air from his lungs all over again. Lightheaded and trembling from the strain to keep the friction against the mattress going, Erwin could only whimper as he impaled himself back on Levi with single-minded purpose. “I’m fucking you how you want it, right? Like a slut who came begging. Dirty and hard, just like you deserve. If your soldiers could see you now… if all those taxpayers who gave you the wages you used to buy me could hear…” The sadistic thrill of his own words made Levi grin and growl through his teeth. “Say it, tell me what you are. Tell _them_.”

“I’m—“ Erwin began, just to test his voice. His body tightened with the pressure of orgasm and he threw the energy into proclaiming, louder than he intended: “I’m a slut! I’m a dirty whore! I want it, yes, I want it. Come in my ass. Please! Fuck me…. Fuck me harder!” Still pushing back, he balled one fist and ground his hips into the angle that trapped the tip of his cock.

Locked between waves of growling and whimpering, he felt a warm burst of come spurting against his stomach, soaking the bed beneath. Jolt after jolt of ecstasy turned him into a trembling wreck, and he wondered how he’d possibly been keeping such passion in reserve. Maybe he was too polite and repressed even when he jerked off, because Erwin couldn’t remember the last time he’d come so hard, so long, so _much._

Levi’s voice caught in his throat as he felt Erwin’s ass tighten around him with orgasm. He started to say something more substantial but only a breathy “Fuck--!” came out. The sudden squeeze on his thrusting cock was tremendous, sucking him deeper while Erwin writhed in sobbing pleasure beneath him and fisted the sheets desperately.

What a beautiful sight, Levi thought before closing his eyes. Hips rocking hard and fast, he threw his head back and groaned at the ceiling. His mouth opened wide on a silent scream as the swell of his own climax built and broke. “Fuck, that’s right,” he said with an eerily calm tone even as his cock emptied all it had left. “You feel me coming for you? Huh? You feel my come filling up your ass?” He yanked Erwin’s hips flush against him as he slammed deep with a grunt. Erwin only yelled out, inarticulate, helpless to do anything but enjoy the treatment. “Huh?”

Erwin nodded his head against the sheets, teary and gasping as he felt the heat of Levi’s release fill him. “Yes, thank you…” he panted quickly. “Yes.”

His stamina was fast reaching its limit for such focused performance, and Levi could already feel the weight settling in his muscles and the disorienting bliss of drowsiness that often accompanied back-to-back orgasms. He was out of practice, sure, but it had been immensely more satisfying for the wait. Erwin knew what he was doing when he bought Levi’s solitude for so many months.

Everything had gone according to plan.

Kneading both thumbs against Erwin’s ass, Levi watched his cock thrusting in and out, lazy with its last vestiges of hardness. He heard everything squelching together with lewd wetness over the panting and the moaning.

“I had more in me than I thought,” he noted drolly as a trickle of come squeezed out between them and slid down Erwin’s thigh, caught by what remained of his pants.  “You can’t even hold it all.”

His cock softened beyond hope of continuing, and Levi forced himself to pull out. He took a deep breath while all his senses were still spiking from the adrenaline rush to catch the dirty, sweaty smell of sex that he would never admit to enjoying so much. It took the right situation to appreciate it. It took kneeling high over the Commander of the Survey Corps and looking down on his well-fucked, wide-open ass as he adjusted to the full load of come that almost fit inside it.

Instead of making the effort to step off the bed and take proper care of his usual clean up routine, Levi slouched to the side, dropped to his elbows, and finally spread out sideways on the bed behind Erwin. His eyelids grew heavier as he enjoyed the respite. Erwin’s breath, still ragged and keening, confirmed a job well done. Not that he had an ounce of doubt.

“If you’re waiting for more, I’m sorry,” Levi cracked, and snickered to himself as he drew a clammy hand over his bare stomach. “I’m only one man, unfortunately.”

Erwin didn’t answer him. Levi had almost expected as much, and he turned his face against the comforter with every intention of shutting his eyes for a moment. Only a moment.

The aftermath was lonelier than Erwin expected. After hearing nothing out of Levi for minutes, not a sound nor a word, he finally dared to bring his legs back together and shift into a less depraved position. The muscles in his thighs ached, unused to such a strain, to say nothing of the sharpness in his lower regions. He turned with a stifled hiss of discomfort, still a bit woozy as he flopped onto his back. His legs weren’t quite ready to straighten out, so he kept them bent slightly and told himself to get up. It took several minutes before he actually listened. Afterglow was not something he’d paid for. He couldn’t afford it.

Pausing in front of the mirror, Erwin took a good, long look at his reflection. Ravaged was, perhaps, too polite a term for how he looked. The sweat that clung through his hair left it sticking to his forehead and flipping up at the ends, pointing in strange directions that, at the very least, made the sight amusing. From there, though, he was unrecognizable next to his usual self. The marks of Levi’s come had dried to flake away from his shirt and harness, and upon seeing the largest white patch beneath his jacket insignia, Erwin decided he was too hot for the extra clothes anyway.

He shrugged out of the jacket and laid it on the bed behind him, briefly stopping mid-turn to stare at Levi still catnapping near the bottom edge of the mattress.

With solemn ceremony Erwin went on about the process of removing his uniform completely. Starting with the boots, he worked his way to every buckle and strap before finally peeling the ruined pants from his legs. He laid his harness over his jacket, and the rest he tossed into what he could only assume was a rubbish bin next to Levi’s writing desk.

He found the washroom after a bit of snooping. It only made sense for Levi to have one at the ready, after all, or so Erwin prayed. Otherwise his only recourse would be wrapping himself in a blanket to brave the halls. His suspicions were correct, though; through a door near the back wall he found a luxurious en suite built into Levi’s room.  

After disrobing and washing up, there was little to do but wait, and he did so in the big wingback chair where he’d first taken a seat. Naked and clean, but still aching and exhausted and vigilant to not slip too far into contemplation, Erwin simply waited. Levi’s supine figure was in his line of sight and he traced the curves of his hips and the beauty of his back muscles with a fascination that was detached by necessity, watching the deep breath of slumber move his body, envying that level of comfort with a stranger.

But he was different, wasn’t he? He was more than a stranger, he was more than just a client. He was a figurehead, a thing, a name that filled headlines and would be forced to explain every action, if those actions slipped beyond the acceptable. The comfort was symbolic, almost, to show that Levi trusted Erwin enough to behave himself, if Erwin trusted Levi enough to keep his mouth shut.  

Several more minutes passed before Erwin realized he was still missing something.

He stood up and moved to the bed, reaching in gently to pull the bolo tie from Levi’s neck. He fully expected Levi to wake up when he did, and so was prepared to mutter “sorry to disturb” as his very recent lover twitched awake with an ugly grunt.

Levi propped himself up on one hand and realized he’d been napping long enough for Erwin to make considerable changes to the scene. He screwed a knuckle against his eye and moaned sleepily. “I was exhausted,” immediately adding, “I need to clean up.”

“You earned every right to be exhausted,” Erwin remarked, turning away from the bed as he adjusted the tie on his chest. It may have been the only thing he was wearing, but it had looked good enough on Levi. “I used the opportunity to make myself more presentable.”

Levi had seen a few different sides of the Commander, all in a handful of hours, but he was already well aware of Erwin’s tendency toward subtle jokes, however bad. “Indeed,” he played right along, turning to watch him walk away. “Nice birthday suit.”

“Thank you.”

He’d seen the biting, rotten-purple bruises of enough soldiers to know the deep patterns maneuver gear left on the skin. Erwin wore the marks better than most. Not that they were the most eye-catching thing about his naked body, but Levi had come to appreciate the grotesque things about beautiful people.     

Though he didn’t want to, Erwin eventually had to break the silence, interrupting Levi’s rapt attention. “I’ll need clothes. Since you ruined mine, would that be too much to ask?”

Swinging his legs lazily over the edge of the bed, Levi shrugged. “Not at all. There’s a wardrobe downstairs with cast-offs, I can have one of the housekeepers find something... suitable.” His eyes roved Erwin, sweeping up and down even as he rose to his feet. “Do you want me to have your jacket laundered, too?”

Levi’s smirk was bold and obvious, referencing things Erwin was already pushing into tidy little corners of his mind. He walked toward the Commander, stretching his arms up pleasantly as he did.

“No, I think I’ll take care of it.”

They met at the center of the room, and Levi pressed a palm to Erwin’s chest.

“Are you sure you want to slink off just yet?” He asked softly.

“I never intended to spend the night,” Erwin replied matter-of-factly, as Levi’s fingers slid over to play with the bolo tie.

“What are you afraid of?” Rising to the tips of his toes, Levi stretched up into an invitation for a kiss. "I’d make it worth your while.” Erwin gave in to the temptation of Levi’s mouth gladly, but chastely, and just long enough to communicate that he meant to stand his ground. Other temptations were non-negotiable.

“I enjoyed myself. You gave me what I wanted, and I thank you.”

“But I didn’t really. You want what I want. You want to go back in time, simple as that. Not to change things. Just to be there, before things got complicated and started piling up.”

“The past wasn’t objectively better.” As Erwin said it, the dark head beneath him drooped. Levi nodded in agreement, keeping his eyes on the broad, bruised chest.

“But it’s a comfort.” Levi paused. “Now is always going to be terrifying, but it’s all we have.”

Erwin waited until Levi looked up at him after a few long moments, and finally said, “That got unexpectedly philosophical.”

“Are you the type?” To appreciate it, Levi obviously meant.

The Commander shrugged one shoulder. “Not really. I’m fairly straightforward. It’s part of the job; you can’t think too much about things that aren’t immediate.”

“Then it doesn’t make sense why you won’t stay with me tonight.” Levi was toeing the line between seductive and bratty, and he knew it. But he’d spent too many nights alone recently to let Erwin Smith walk out the door without giving him a good reason.

“Doesn’t it?” Erwin’s eyebrows lifted sharply. He refused to be condescending to Levi, so he gave him the benefit of a chance to figure it out on his own. “Please, could you send the housekeeper for those clothes?”

Obediently, because he knew better than to argue, Levi turned and padded toward the bed again. He pulled the rope for the service bell, using the moments to try and understand. “You don’t want to be seen leaving a brothel, then.”

Erwin shook his head, and his expression tightened incredulously. “Someone will see me, regardless. Someone who was here tonight will talk, and another person will tell another person… I don’t honestly care.”

“Then call me ignorant, but I’m still confused.”

“Because I can’t afford to develop feelings for you.”

Levi rolled his eyes toward the wall before perching on the edge of the bed. “I don’t believe you’re the sort who’d be that weak.”

“So believe that. Maybe you’re right. Maybe there’s some other secret I’m keeping.”

Mercifully, there came a knock on the door. Levi walked to answer it, speaking quickly as he went. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, the last thing on my mind is baring my soul or trusting you farther than I can throw you. I have one reason for wanting you to stay and it’s between your legs.”

It was a petulant last word, because after Levi spoke briefly to the housekeeper and closed the door again, neither of them said a thing. Erwin sat patiently in the chair while the other man flitted about, tidying up and pulling sheets from the bed. There were things Erwin wanted to ask, of course, such as didn’t the housekeeper take care of things like changing the sheets? But the time for idle conversation had passed.

He changed into a shirt that was slightly too long matched with a pair of pants an inch too short. His boots covered that, at least, but he’d already resigned himself to walking home in a blatantly piecemeal ensemble that suggested too much about how he’d spent his night. He wrapped the harness in his jacket, tucked it under one arm, and said, “I suppose this is goodnight, then.”

Levi, cinching his white robe tighter, stepped over politely. His earlier mood seemed to have faded, replaced by the practiced formality of a consummate professional. Cold clockwork. Erwin was relieved to see it. “Please be safe.”

“I always try to be.”

The smile on Levi’s face was, despite all his best efforts, still tight with disappointment. “I’ll return to my usual clientele tomorrow. Vacation’s over.”

Erwin nodded, not sure whether the statement was meant as a reassurance or another taunt. “You be safe, as well.”

“I always am.”

They let the moment rest on a single beat, as if there were anything left to talk about, anything left to say. Erwin couldn’t help a respectfully tender voice that matched his expression when he said, “Goodnight, Levi.”

Reaching in, he plucked up Levi’s hand and kissed the fingers with sweet quickness.

“Goodnight, Commander.”

Erwin made his way down the stairs and through the streets without drawing many glances, but kept his head down nonetheless. Early morning grey was filtering through the sky, heralding the sunrise, just as he drew the curtains on his bedroom window in an attempt to get some rest. Sleep was fitful. In some ways, he might have done well to stay.

Within days, though, things returned to normal.

Two weeks later, he accepted an invitation from the Squad Leaders to join them for drinks. It wasn’t usually a rare occasion, but when Mike pointed out he’d been strangely antisocial of late, Erwin agreed to put effort into rekindling his old routines. Sloughing off his focus on the less optimistic details of the day’s meetings, he opened the door of his little apartment at mid-evening with every intention to enjoy himself.

A small package, with only his name written on it, sat tied in string on his front step.

In an effort to avoid those who looked less than kindly on his politics or the things he represented, Erwin kept his living situation as discreet as possible. Though he spent as much time as possible within the walls of military buildings, he had to retire to a bed somewhere, and so set up housekeeping in a quiet neighborhood populated mostly by old widows and couples, the sort of people who fed each other’s cats as they roamed from street to street and left their windows open to spout well-intentioned advice at those who walked by. It had been a safe haven, as few entered the neighborhood without being watched intently by homebound geriatrics with nothing better to do.

Therefore, he thought little of the package and its potential contents, and stepped back inside to open it.

A simple paper box was under the wrapping. A sixth sense was triggered within Erwin and his heart beat faster, a smile pulling ambiguously at his lips while he lifted the lid.

On a bed of plain white fabric, and accompanied by a folded note, there was a dainty copper key.

His smile grew wider. He held the key in one hand and unfolded the note with the other. Unexpected, he thought with a private laugh, that Levi would have such clumsy handwriting.

> _I can still make it worth your while, anytime you wish._
> 
> _All I require is that you announce yourself._
> 
> _In case I’m not alone._
> 
> -          _L._

Mike asked why he was in such a good mood when he finally made his way to the pub, as if good moods were such a rarity.

“I really wish I wasn’t, or that it wasn’t so obvious at least,” Erwin replied before ordering a strong drink immediately.

“Why?”

“Because it’s the sort of good mood that could end up being bad for me.”

The key was tucked into his breast pocket.

  


End file.
